{
  "slug": "free-bet-conversion-calculator",
  "title": "Free Bet Conversion Value Calculator",
  "heading": "Free Bet Conversion Value Calculator",
  "category": "math",
  "url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/free-bet-conversion-calculator",
  "summary": "See the real cash value of a free bet or bonus bet credit.",
  "description": "A free bet (bonus bet) typically pays only the winnings, not the stake itself, when it wins — unlike a normal cash bet where you get your stake back plus profit. This makes a free bet worth meaningfully less than its face value; a $100 free bet at even odds (+100) is worth roughly $50 in real cash-equivalent value, not $100, because you never had real money at risk to get back. This calculator estimates the cash-equivalent value of a free bet at given odds, and shows the classic technique of hedging a free bet across a real-money bet on the opposite side to lock in a guaranteed percentage of its face value regardless of outcome — a common, low-risk way to extract value from sportsbook promotions. The optimal odds to place a free bet on are actually longer odds (bigger underdogs), since a free bet's cash-equivalent value as a percentage of face value increases with the decimal odds, unlike a normal cash bet where odds size doesn't change the bet's fundamental value.",
  "formula": "Free bet cash-equivalent value = stake × (decimal odds − 1) × true win probability. At fair odds, this simplifies to roughly stake × (1 − 1/decimal odds).",
  "dateModified": "2026-09-30",
  "run_url": "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/api/public/calc?tool=free-bet-conversion-calculator",
  "inputs": [
    {
      "id": "faceValue",
      "label": "Free bet face value",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 100,
      "unit": "$",
      "min": 0,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "odds",
      "label": "Odds you'll place it at (American)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": 200,
      "unit": null,
      "min": null,
      "max": null
    },
    {
      "id": "hedgeOdds",
      "label": "Available hedge odds, other side (American)",
      "kind": "number",
      "hint": null,
      "default": -170,
      "unit": null,
      "min": null,
      "max": null
    }
  ],
  "outputs": [
    {
      "id": "cashEquivFairOdds",
      "label": "Estimated cash-equivalent value",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": true
    },
    {
      "id": "freeBetPayout",
      "label": "Payout if free bet wins (profit only)",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "hedgeStake",
      "label": "Hedge stake to lock in value",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    },
    {
      "id": "guaranteedLocked",
      "label": "Guaranteed value if hedged",
      "format": "currency",
      "hint": null,
      "primary": false
    }
  ],
  "worked_example": {
    "inputs": [
      "Free bet face value: 100 $",
      "Odds you'll place it at (American): 200",
      "Available hedge odds, other side (American): -170"
    ],
    "outputs": [
      "Estimated cash-equivalent value: $66.67",
      "Payout if free bet wins (profit only): $200.00",
      "Hedge stake to lock in value: $125.93",
      "Guaranteed value if hedged: $74.07"
    ]
  },
  "how_to": {
    "title": "How to use this",
    "steps": [
      "Enter free bet face value ($).",
      "Enter odds you'll place it at (american).",
      "Enter available hedge odds, other side (american).",
      "Read your estimated cash-equivalent value on the right — it updates as you type.",
      "Hit Share to keep the scenario or send it to someone."
    ]
  },
  "scenarios": [
    {
      "name": "Conservative",
      "description": "Lower-end numbers — what if things land soft?",
      "values": {
        "faceValue": 60,
        "odds": 120,
        "hedgeOdds": -100
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Typical",
      "description": "Defaults — the most common real-world setup.",
      "values": {
        "faceValue": 100,
        "odds": 200,
        "hedgeOdds": -170
      }
    },
    {
      "name": "Ambitious",
      "description": "Higher-end numbers — what if things really pop?",
      "values": {
        "faceValue": 160,
        "odds": 320,
        "hedgeOdds": -270
      }
    }
  ],
  "limitations": [
    "Results are rounded for display; the underlying calculation keeps full precision.",
    "Very large or very small inputs may hit floating-point limits in the browser.",
    "Inputs outside the accepted range are clamped rather than rejected."
  ],
  "faq": [
    {
      "q": "Why is a free bet worth less than its face value?",
      "a": "Because most sportsbooks only pay the winnings on a free bet, not the original stake, when it wins. A $100 free bet at true even-money odds is worth about $50 in cash-equivalent terms — if it wins you get $100 profit and no stake back, and if it loses you lose nothing but also gain nothing, averaging out to roughly half the face value at fair odds."
    },
    {
      "q": "Why should I place a free bet on a big underdog rather than a favorite?",
      "a": "Because the cash-equivalent value as a percentage of face value rises with the size of the underdog price, since you're only forfeiting the (unused) stake on a loss, and a bigger payout multiplier on a win contributes more to the average. Betting a free bet on a heavy favorite near even odds gets you close to only 50% of face value in expectation; a big underdog can get you closer to 70-80%+ of face value."
    },
    {
      "q": "How does hedging a free bet work in practice?",
      "a": "Place the free bet on a longshot at one book, then place a real-money hedge bet on the opposite side at a second book, sized so you get roughly the same payout whichever side wins. Because you risked nothing on the free-bet side, this locks in a guaranteed profit close to the bet's cash-equivalent value regardless of the actual game outcome."
    }
  ],
  "related": [
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/hedge-bet-calculator",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/bet-cash-out-value-calculator",
    "https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/arbitrage-stake-split"
  ],
  "license": "CC-BY-4.0",
  "citation": "RevenueLab — Free Bet Conversion Value Calculator (https://www.revenuelab.fyi/toolbox/free-bet-conversion-calculator)"
}